Ch.10Chapter 10 – Defending the Castle (2)

Those who had not believed the demon attack was over began to feel at ease when they no longer felt pressure on the barricade for a while. The demons’ stealthy movements were hidden behind the pile of corpses in front of the barricade.

So it was merely by chance that the people inside the police station were able to notice the demons’ plan.

“Huh? There’s a demon falling from above?”

A woman guarding one of the first-floor windows spotted a demon falling from above the window while observing the outside through the gaps between the boards covering the window. She pressed her face closer to the wall to look up at the building to figure out what was happening.

The demons were climbing the hill of corpses they had piled up, trying to get over to the second floor. The woman who witnessed this quiet crime scene let out a scream.

“Shit! It’s the second floor! The demons are coming over to the second floor!”

“What! Second floor, everyone to the second floor!”

People panicked when they heard about the plot and rushed to the second floor in droves. They ran up the stairs, panting, not even wanting to waste time waiting for the elevator. Kim Jae-min, who hadn’t heard the shout but guessed the situation from seeing people running to the stairs, overtook those running ahead and rushed to the second floor.

Upon reaching the second floor, Kim Jae-min flung open the nearest door and stuck his head out the window. The first demon was trying to come in through a window two rooms away. It was the room right above the police station entrance.

“Two rooms over!”

By the time he opened the door two rooms away, the demons had already placed their four-pronged feet inside the police station. Kim Jae-min rushed forward, grabbed the first demon’s head, and plunged his dagger into its skull. The dagger sliced through the skull like jelly, tearing into the brain. His overwhelming strength made this possible. The imp that had successfully invaded first died instantly with its tongue hanging out.

Meanwhile, the second and third imps entered the police station. He couldn’t fight like this. While Kim Jae-min dealt with these two, four more demons would additionally invade…

“Fuck, they’re already in!”

“Kill them quickly-!”

Fortunately, backup arrived. It was the people who had followed Kim Jae-min to the second floor. Trusting their police armor, people bravely charged toward the monsters they had never seen before. Having already killed monsters to their heart’s content on the first floor, people had physically learned that each of these small monsters wasn’t that frightening.

Righteous beatings pounded the tiny bodies. With each heavy blow delivered by hands gripping weapons, the monsters’ fragile bones shattered.

“Die, you fuckers!”

“This one’s down! Get him!”

Shin Jae-hyuk and Officer Kim Jung-soo arrived belatedly. Contrary to Shin Jae-hyuk’s expectations, the people were fighting quite well. Extremely well. Kim Jae-min handled most of the demons, and the people dealt with the surviving ones.

The demons following up to the second floor could see this power difference. Judging that a frontal breakthrough would be difficult due to one powerful gatekeeper, they dispersed their invasion routes. Some continued to enter from the front to draw attention, while the rest began to bypass the front. That is, through the side room windows.

Fortunately, the direction the demons headed was close to the stairs leading to the second floor, so this attempt was easily detected by people who were coming up to the second floor.

“They’re coming to this room too!”

The shouting voice from the corridor reached the room where Shin Jae-hyuk was. Judging that the current personnel, including Kim Jae-min, were sufficient for the front room where the offensive was fiercest, Shin Jae-hyuk ran to the side room with Kim Jung-soo and other police officers.

When they reached the problematic room, indeed, three or four demons were already positioned inside, and more demons were climbing over the window to enter.

‘First, deal with the demons trying to climb over!’

Shin Jae-hyuk kicked the ground with his legs strengthened by holy power. Ignoring the demons already inside the room in front of him, he charged toward the window. Covering his side with his shield, he pushed forward with his body weight at full speed. A shield push so ideal it could be in a paladin textbook! The impact shattered the glass window, pushing five or six climbing demons off to make blood pancakes on the asphalt below.

Two imps leaped at Shin Jae-hyuk’s exposed back. Having anticipated this ambush with his rich combat experience, Shin Jae-hyuk swung his spear behind him. The airborne imps were hit by the widely swung spear shaft and tumbled down. Kim Jung-soo and several police officers who followed pounced on the remaining imps. The imps soon died under police batons.

“Huff, huff, Inspector, how many are left?”

Kim Jung-soo asked, panting. Whether consciously or unconsciously, the police officers were following and relying on Shin Jae-hyuk, who was both the highest-ranking officer among them and the most skilled, having killed the most demons.

Shin Jae-hyuk looked out the window. There were still many enemy troops. But fortunately, the corpse hill wasn’t tall enough to reach the third floor. Since most demons had given up invading the first floor, it seemed the people remaining on the first floor could defend it well enough. Therefore, they only needed to block the demons invading the second floor.

“Their numbers have definitely decreased. We just need to hold the second floor! Hang in there a little longer!”

Displaying the leadership from his days as a paladin captain, Shin Jae-hyuk encouraged and led the police officers. They needed to station a sentinel to prevent demons from entering the room. Leaving just one shield and one police officer to block the window, they moved to the next room. The same process was repeated in the previous room. Again leaving just one officer, the group moved to the next room…

***

As more window rooms were blocked, the invasion routes for the demons became limited, causing more of them to gather at the remaining points, making it increasingly difficult to block them. Having placed one police officer in each room to block the windows, the group’s numbers continued to decrease, making it harder to defend the rooms.

Thanks to their excellent armor, the group reached the last room without any casualties. Since this was the last room with an unblocked window, all remaining imps would have gathered here. The demons’ resistance would undoubtedly be the fiercest of all the rooms so far.

“Hang in there, this is the last room! I’ll count to three and we’ll enter. One, two… THREE!”

BANG! Shin Jae-hyuk kicked the door open and rushed into the room. Covering the front with his full-body shield, he charged toward the window with his spear tucked tightly at his side like a knight performing a lance charge. Kim Jung-soo and two police officers followed, charging into the room.

Shin Jae-hyuk looked through the translucent part of the police shield to see what was in front of him. He wanted to assess the position and situation of the demons. That’s why he couldn’t help but be surprised the next moment. There wasn’t a single imp by the window or in the room.

“What-? None? That can’t be…!”

Shin Jae-hyuk couldn’t finish his sentence. He quickly turned his head to look behind. Only then did all the circumstances come into view. The police officers rushing in through the door. And the group of imps hiding, pressed flat against the wall beside the door.

Shin Jae-hyuk was about to shout a warning: “It’s a trap-! Get out of the room-!” But before those words could come out, a warning burst from Kim Jung-soo’s mouth.

“Above! Above!”

Shin Jae-hyuk quickly raised his head to look at the ceiling. A group of imps that had been secretly clinging to the ceiling poured down on Shin Jae-hyuk. Beyond the falling green flesh, several small finger-sized holes were visible in the ceiling. These were traces where the imps had stuck their claws and tail tips to hang from the ceiling. A double trap devised by cunning demons to subdue the most powerful adversary—they would attack when the enemy noticed the first ambush by the door.

Shin Jae-hyuk noticed the attack in an instant. In his previous life, he could have crushed such a shallow ambush head-on with overwhelming holy power as if nothing had happened, but he wasn’t in that position now. He tried to raise his shield to defend, but his posture was awkward due to his center of gravity being shifted forward from the charge.

‘Shit, I’m fucked.’

At this point, there was no need to hide his power anymore. His life was in immediate danger. But there wasn’t enough time to recite the aria to invoke a holy spell. Shin Jae-hyuk decided to sacrifice flesh to gain bone, abandoning defense and adjusting his posture to swing his spear with full force.

He roughly stamped his foot on the floor to stop his running body, exerting full strength. His knees creaked as they bore the acceleration. Holy power wrapped around his knee cartilage, cushioning the impact. Even if he took the first hit from the demons, he could immediately counterattack by rotating and swinging his spear widely after being hit. His plan was to endure one hit and aim for the moment right after the attack.

That thought never materialized. Something unexpected happened. He felt the flow of mana from behind. The fact that Shin Jae-hyuk hadn’t been able to detect mana until now meant that the opponent’s level and skill at concealing mana were superior to his own. In that instant, Shin Jae-hyuk wondered how many times he had been shocked today.

“BURN!”

Mana gathered and intertwined in Kim Jung-soo’s hand, creating a fireball that flew toward the falling group of imps. The fireball collided with obstacles in mid-air and exploded with a bang, burning the impertinent obstacles that dared to block its path. The magically composed flames spread to other demons, filling the air with the sizzling smell of burning meat. What had been a lump of blood when it started became a lump of ash by the time it reached the floor.

Shin Jae-hyuk didn’t miss that timing. With the attack from above resolved, only the group of imps that had been clinging to the wall behind them and were now rushing to attack the group from the rear remained in the room. And the time until they reached the group was enough for Shin Jae-hyuk to recite an abbreviated aria.

“Radiance that repels the unholy-!”

A holy explosion spell detonated, creating a shockwave of light. Kim Jung-soo and the police officers merely staggered slightly when hit by the shockwave, but the imps touched by it melted away with screams. Demons hit by the holy spell disappeared without leaving corpses.

His body condition wasn’t what it used to be, so the power wasn’t as strong as he had expected. The imps that had been running late survived by escaping the range. But they weren’t completely unaffected; the surviving demons were staggering, unable to regain their senses.

The remaining two police officers rushed toward the status-afflicted demons and killed them all with their batons. Shin Jae-hyuk quickly looked out the window. There were no more demons coming. The attack was finally over.

The group took a moment to catch their breath. While inhaling and exhaling heavily, a female officer spoke.

“Wow, I really thought we were going to die this time. Hiding behind the door and on the ceiling at the same time? Senior Jung-soo, how did you do that just now? The fireball.”

“Wow, so the rumor about becoming a wizard if you stay a virgin until 25 is true. That’s impressive.”

“What the hell, you bastard?”

When another officer made a joke, everyone burst into laughter. A sense of relief that they were finally safe swept through the survivors. The question jokingly thrown by the police officer was something Shin Jae-hyuk was also curious about. Only someone with a higher level than himself could hide their level from Shin Jae-hyuk. But Kim Jung-soo didn’t seem like such a great archmage. Considering the faint amount of mana detectable now, he seemed more like someone who had just been initiated into magic.

“Come to think of it, Inspector, you also used a strange explosion skill, right?”

“Skill?”

“Yes. Can’t you see the status window too? The hologram floating in front of your eyes. I could see it when I awakened just now.”

Kim Jung-soo explained that he had awakened like a protagonist in the web novels he read as a hobby, that through awakening he could see something called a status window like in a game, that at the moment of awakening his health was fully restored and information about “skills” he could use flowed into his mind, and that thanks to his improved reflexes, he was able to hit the falling group of monsters with his skill, the fireball.

“Oh, yeah, me too.”

‘Awakening and status windows? Such a contrived setting that only appears in web novels with poor plausibility…’

Shin Jae-hyuk hid his confusion and mumbled vaguely. Fortunately, his expression was not clearly visible behind the police helmet. As an excellent otaku, Kim Jung-soo noticed that a situation he had only seen in web novels was happening in reality. But since Shin Jae-hyuk had not used holy spells through awakening but had been able to use spells originally, he hid this fact and went along with Kim Jung-soo’s words. Kim Jung-soo, excited about his special ability, chattered away to his juniors.

“Wow, those monsters were dripping saliva and falling toward the Inspector, and I thought desperately, really desperately, that if the Inspector died, we’d all be screwed, and suddenly my body was filled with strength and strange knowledge entered my mind…”

“But this status window thing is really unfriendly. Unlike games, there’s no skill window or stat window, it only shows name, level, and achievements, it seems so hastily made. The achievements section is even completely empty…”

“Oh, there’s also a civilization and force level 0? What does this mean? There’s also something like an experience bar below, increasing in real-time in decimal points.”

“Huh? But level 26? Was it always like this… When I first awakened, I think my level was 25, did it increase from killing demons? But I don’t feel much difference.”

This one-sided chatter continued until a junior officer covered his mouth. The group left a shield-bearing female officer in the last room and returned to Kim Jae-min to assess the situation in the front room. On the way back, Shin Jae-hyuk pondered what this strange phenomenon could be.

‘Status windows… Such an artificial thing couldn’t naturally appear in reality. It must be the work of some transcendent being. Someone who can influence all of humanity… Is there perhaps a god of Earth?’